Tortilla machine



A. J. PEREYRA l2,055,205

Sept; 22, 1936.

' TORTILLA MACHINE ,Filed' April ciu-1954.

:E IDX-.1..

NYENT'O'.' ARMANDO J. Pansy/RA,

Patented Sept. 22, 1936 TORTILLA MACHINE" Armandf J. Pereyra; San` Francisco, YCalif. l Application April ',6, 1934,` Serial No; 71195280'I This invention relates to devices used in making tortillas.

Onepf .the obj.ctstof,'this; inventionis .to pro-.- vide-.a .tortillamachinewith ,means ,whereby any1` 5. unevenness :im fasftortilla.` can be xmended. or corrected-fina: veryfshorttime andfwith practically nofwastefotmaterial...

. Another object is to provide mea-nstfor, exchangy ing rollers while the machine remains in. operat1 f ing. condition f except f for, the-,I individual roller handledfat ;the ctime.

Another object-.iste provider means for releasing rollers Without changinggzar-iy`f adjustments.:`

155 t Another object-isf toprovide `,means ffor automaticaHy-holdingtheform-roller under tension against another froller; l

Anothertobjectis to `provide means Aforv automaticallykeeping the :strippingA Wires taut;

Another object ist to: Pprovidefadjustabilityv for thestrippi-ng ,fwires as-to-the-point :or line-ofstripe ping: thesdough fromwther- :rollers :Withlrespect .to 1

thewperiphery-fo l'theffrollers.

Otherobjectsnwillqappear `from :the followingA K description andv iappended :claims aswell as from the accompanying drawing inffwhich- A Fig. 1 iis aeside velevation of. a: tortillamachinee* partlyfcut :away: to .show-ptherwise.covered .Worke ingoaparts.- 3o` link connection for separating the irollers. Y

Eiga 3 isaetop planor edge Viewy ofthemeans Fig.'V 12 is: aifrag-.mentary top fplan lView lof the.

for maintaining thenstripping..- wires rtaut; ,easily released and, exchangeable:

s Fig.4-,is afplan :View yof tlfierollers` showing. the

position of therstrippinggwiresandfringsa Tortillas are-xcustomarily; made Nery f thin; and,

in thisfcondition, are-liable to-:tear-.Whenever theleast@'smallgrain` happenshtocorne'- between -the 40\ ro11ers,.:, thefzgrain\becorningflodgedxv between -thef closely; set rollers Asonthat'no1 dough can-pass, re-

sultinggin` f a. tear, or holes within: the l rolled-out tortillaf.; y I

Under: such cond-itionaw. customaril-yfthe Ydough therol-lersforwithinthehopperzin orderftha't theY grain'maygbe removedffrom its lodged position or fromvthe-massgof .dough entirely, which, of course;

(Cl. 107-23) f fingers, or cloth, or a stringall 'of 'Which-necessii tates and causes'loss ofitimefand'aninterruption of 'th'e regular operation.-

Consideration has furthermoreto be givenfrto therforminguroller, which also..may clogup; or 5y there maybe a requirement'in the .trade cria desire to exchange. diierentrollers for diierent'; frmsor size;

An arrangement disclosed herewith serves" to take care` of or provide foranysuch` possibilities. 10

The combinationy frame-,structure is :therefore designed to comprise a main stationary portion 6' anda tiltably, mounted portiom 'I,` supported 'on the pivot B-in, the main-.frame portion., One mainmroller is turnably.,mounteclinv the main- 15 portion `Ii l supported onfthe shaft ZSLand. another main-roller is turnably supported Lon the shaft KI 0,'. inthe tiltable portion ,'I..

Under these conditions .themain- .rollers can be l approached toa veryclse setting forthe sake of 29` gettingand producing thin,.torti11as,-,on the one,

hand, and, on .theothen handr, the rollers may. beA separatedto alconsiderableI extent Whenlal clogging I isI to be mended E or.. anyi 'change fon. lthe machine is towbe madefsuch ,as ferent 4mold or-iormrollers The .tiltable-,portion al is'4 held, in foperative ref lation .to the maimframastructure 6by.the.link.` members II and I2, illustrated in Figs. .1.andl2;

The link-,member I 2 isepivotall-y connected tothe 3Q,

tiltableportionl abyf-means of the shaftor rod- ;I 3v. at one end, While thefotheriendlo the link-member I 2 is pivotallyconnectedto one endof .the-linkmember I thy/means of theshatorf-rodl 4,.. The` opposite end of, theVlink--memberf I I .ispivota11yl 35,

connected to the main-.frame 6 lbyfmeans of the rod :or bar I5;

An adj ustment ofthe: tiltalole'f` portion 'I :with respect to' the maint-,portion Iwto a closer. or Wider setting betweentheztwo :portions: isaccom- 40 plished `by :means of lthe-set-screw 7 I 6i. I

Such Ylink-membersV mayv be .in -;-the, middle` betweenA the oppositelyfdisposed frame-portions of4 a tortilla machine or: may=be disposed fin ,pairsr one'of whichlto be nearteachv-.of the.` oppositely; 45 disposed frame sides ,orend-.pieces.=

From the above itzmust-beunderstood that by a-slight or short lifting of=the.1inkmember, as, for-instance, to r`the position-indicatedlin dotted lines at -I Ia the tiltable portion] willbeseparated 50 suiciently from the stationary `vportion.- 6-so,that thetwo main rollers mountedon the shafts 9 and In will be separated-` also, .fwhichiscommonly sufcient to mend .any clogging of grains in a dough between o the rouers. f :545

exchanging 25Y For instance, when dough is being passed between the two main rollers I1 and I8 while they are set for rolling out tortillas, they are customarily disposed rather closely so that a somewhat coarser than the average grain in the dough may easily become lodged between the rollers, particularly since a stripping wire I9 is desirably located closely below the point or line where the two rollers are nearest to one another. The rollers are then, of course, rotating for the rolling operation.

A slight lifting of the links as described above to the extent or even less than illustrated in Fig. 1 will normally sufiice to cause such a clogged or lodged grain to move on with the turning 'rollers so that the links may be pressed down again after an instant separation of the rollers to a very slight extent beyond the desired thickness of the cake or tortilla so that the resulting tortilla may show only a hardly noticeable variation of thickness.V

At least, the operation of the machine does not have to be interrupted for any great length of time, as is common with other machines on such an occasion.

The main rollers VII and I8 are preferably shaped with oppositely convex and concave faces as illustrated in an exaggerated manner in Fig. 4, to facilitate a placing of the stripping wires at the most desirable places, on the rearmost roller I8, for instance, straight across the face of this roller just below the contacting ornearly contacting line with the other roller, as already pointed out above; while on the front'roller I'I the wire may be disposed just above the rearmost end of the conveyor 20 for transferring the finished tortillas to A, la plain cylindrical roller might eventually easily 4'0v be forced away from the face Aof the roller at or near the middleof such a roller, but, by making a roller of a convex form, even ever so slightly, the wire I9 can readily be drawn tight enough to'result in a, clean stripping of the dough from such a convex or barrel-shaped roller.

To produce an evenly thick tortilla, the second roller must, of course, be shaped correspondingly as, for instance, illustrated in Fig. 4, with a concave face. Y

, Over such a concave roller a wire cannot very well be drawn so as to resultl in a clean stripping of Adough from the periphery of the roller. 'Ihe wire is therefore arranged in a slanting manner as clearly indicated at 2I, not at all interfering with a proper operation of the machine inasmuch as the nishedtortilla merely drops from the roller I'I upon the conveyor 20 and itis immaterial that one of the side edges of the iinishedtortilla drops slightly ahead of the remaining body of the tortilla whendropping upon the conveyor.

It is, however, important that both wires should be taut across the ,faces of the rollers inorder to maintain theV faces of the rollers absolutely clean and smooth if 'the cakes or tortillas are to be given a nice appearance; and the Wires should also be adjusted tothe vmost favorable' position, for which reason the wires are provided with special tightening mountings or supports illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, though one end of each wire may simply be hooked to the main-frame structure in a satisfactory manner.

The special tighteningmeans for the opposite ends of the wiresconsists simply of the spring members 22 secured to the stationary portion 6 or to the tiltable portion 'I as indicated at 23 provided with a front hook-end 24, to which the loopend of the wire is applied. A thumb or linger plate o1' disc 25 is provided on each tightening means to assure a suitable touch at a proper place for pressing upon the spring members.

This tightening means is designed of such a form and strength to suitably maintain a wire taut and at the same time to readily allow a detaching or an exchange of wires.

For adjusting the wires to certain preferred positions, an adjusting plate 26 is provided for each wire-end, the front end of the plate being provided with a hole through which a wire is passed for guidance and control of position. 'Ihe plate itself is adjustable by means of a set-screw 28,

Y a slot 29'in the plate 26 serving to allow a swing- The links II and 2, moreover, serve to separate y the main rollers for the purpose of exchanging different formor mold-rollers, since the links can be swung to the position indicated in dotted lines at IIb, in which the tiltable'portion of theV main frame structure is swung to theA position indicated in dotted lines at 1b, being suitably separated and spacedV from the stationary portion 6 that the mold-roller may -readily be removed from the notch 3l of the stationary portion 6 and from the cut-out 32 in the end of each of the bars 33 of the conveyor 20. V

Having cut away a portion of the main structure 6, and having indicated half of a cross section of a mold-roller 3Ilwith forming or molding flange 34, shows the end of the bar 33 with its cut-out 32 in the place where the half of the mold roller is broken away, and also shows the notch 3l in the main frame structure on the opposite end of the'main structure behind the bar-end, whereby-it willbe clear just how the mold-roller may be removed from the machine, the gear 35 of the mold roller being easily disengaged from the gear 36 of the main roller I1 by a tilting of the conveyor bars to the position indicated in dotted lines at 33, the bars being swingable aroundthe shaft 38, forming the driving shaft for the conveyor by means of the gear 39, also engaged withzthe gear 36 on the main roller II.

The mold-roller is normally pressed against the main roller by the overbalanced` weight of the conveyor, which isintensied by the spring fIIl,v to assure a proper alignment of the mold roller with the main rollersat all times.

While the form or mold roller cuts out a tortilla from about the middle of the dough as it passes around the main-roller I 1, excess dough is carried back into the hopper or back to a point above and between the two main rollers by means of rings 4I, the rings being disposed in grooves 42 in the main roller I1 so that dough may'remain adhering to the rings while the stripping wire passes between the rings and the mainroller in such amanner as to separate vthe larger body of the dough from the main roller, the dough being adhesive enough to be carried on by the rings to the starting position between the main rollers. i

Having thus described my invention, I claimz 1. In a tortilla machine, pivotally connected frame-portions, main rollers carried by the portions, toggle-links connectingk the frame portions, a conveyor pivotally connected to the portions in operative relation to the main rollers, and a formroller carried on the innermost free end of the conveyor and thereby made removable by the tilting of the pivotally connected conveyor and by the toggle-controlled pivotally connected portions.

2. In a tortilla machine, a frame structure made in distinct portions of which one forms the main stationary portion and the other is tiltably connected to the main portion, a roller turnably mounted in each of the portions so that dough is forced to pass between the nearest points of the rollers, stripping means disposed to separate the dough from one of the rollers so as to be carried along by the other roller, and a control means pivotally connecting the portions including a toggle connection normally in closely folded position holding the portions in closely operating position and disposed over the top of the portions to be raised and thereby unfolded manually for separating the portions and thereby the rollers in case that the dough has become lodged between the rollers to an extent to interfere with the rolling of a fine sheet for tortillas.

3. In a tortilla machine, pivotally connected frame portions, a roller mounted in each of the portions to cooperate with one another for rolling dough, spring members mounted on the portions with spring-effect in axial direction of the rollers and having outwardly bent free ends near the periphery of the rollers, stripping means with loops at both ends hooked over the bent ends of the spring members and thereby disposed to Irictionally engage over the peripheral faces of the rollers, and adjusting means between the spring members and the rollers mounted swingable with respect to and around the axes of the rollers and having guiding means near the periphery of the rollers for adjustably controlling the stripping line and time with respect to the faces of the rollers.

ARMANDO J. PEREYRA. 

